Using Technology to Fight Anxiety in Newly Incarcerated Young Men in Prison

A world first project that will test whether newly incarcerated young men can be helped to fight anxiety using instructional video modules delivered via Ipad is currently underway. Lisa Gye (Media) and Andrew Dodd (Journalism) collaborated with Jeff Pfeifer (Psychology) and Justin Trounson (PhD (Clinical Psychology) Candidate & Provisional Psychologist) to create a series of video modules that are given to young offenders who are in adult prison for the first time.

The modules provide advice on how to survive in adult prison. They were created with the assistance of Port Phillip prison officers, an ex-offender and clinical psychologists from Swinburne.

Two research papers have already been produced as a result:

Trounson, J. S., Pfeifer, J. E., Gye, L., & Dodd, A. (September, 2015). The impact of a technology-enhanced induction process on psychological wellbeing and adjustment in young first-time prisoners. Paper presented at the Young People and the Law conference, Prato, Italy